Nina Osegueda

A Sound Of Thunder

A SOUND OF THUNDER is a local band from the Washington D.C. area, which is not terribly far from me. In an effort to support and promote the local scene, I made it a point to interview Their Front woman Nina Osegueda. For those not yet familiar with A SOUND OF THUNDER, they have an old school metal sound to them, which just rocks the house, with Nina bellowing her FANTASTIC voice into the mic. They have recently released their brand new album. I encourage all of you to go check these guys out.

By Eddie "Deaddie" McConnaughy

• July 25, 2014

Interview - Nina Osegueda (A Sound Of Thunder) interview

Hello Nina how are you today?

I'm good how are you?

I'm doing alright, can you hear me ok?

Yeah I'm good

So this is going to be about the new album you guys are recording so all my questions are based on that. So how is the recording going so far on the new album?

Pretty good! We have actually finished the new album, right now we are just working on the art and the layout.

Nice, nice. So as far as the recording process goes, I know you guys have recorded a couple of albums now, can you describe things that you are doing differently as far as the process goes as you did with past albums?

What we did differently here as opposed to past albums? That's what you asked right?

yep you know like the process, how you went through it, things you changed, things you did differently.

You know what, I don't think we really did anything different except we might have finished this one a bit quicker than we thought we would. But that's because we had all of the songs pretty much ready to go. We didn't have to take as much time in the studio as usual. That was pretty much it, everything else was the same as far as song writing goes.

Nice, and my next question you already answered, you said you are done with the album. So that leads on now, I know one thing you like to do, that you don't see too often is bring your Theremin out on stage with you, which I personally think is awesome.

Well thank you

So can you tell us how much Theremin work is being thrown into the songs on this album, if any?

On this one not too much, that was definitely more of a Time Zero type thing because Time Zero was more of a Sci Fi album this one not so much. I still take it out on stage for different songs, but it's not going to be in this one as much.

How did you get into the Theremin? What first prompted you to pick one up and try it out?

You know actually my drummer bought it, he wanted it and my drummer is always finding cool stuff that he wants to involve with the band and we thought a Theremin would be a great idea because we like Sci Fi songs and I, I mean clearly my hands aren't busy so I figured it should be my job to figure out how to play it so I figured out how to play it.

That's pretty cool, it is definitely something unique, you don't see it very much especially in metal music.

Yeah

So that's pretty awesome. Now when you record, in the studio what kind of equipment do you use, is it different from the equipment that you use when you play live on stage or is it the same equipment?

What kind of equipment do we use on stage?

and recording or do you use the same or is it different? I know some bands like to use different equipment in the studio than they do live on stage.

Actually no we use the exact same equipment, we kind of got it figured out at this point that we like the sound and our producer likes the sound We even use Jessie's cab, a Peavey, Peavey amp, he actually uses that both on stage and to record, the same stuff.

Nice, that's cool. Alright, so the title for the new album, have you figured that out yet?

The Title? Yeah, it's called The Last Key of Solomon

Ok, that's awesome. What are your predictions for this new album? How do you think it is going to do?

I think it is going to do well, but I think it is going to be different than what we had before. I mean it's going to be a little bit different, not too different. But there is going to be some different stuff in there, some new stuff that I think people will really enjoy.

Right, I mean time goes and on you put out albums, you evolve it a little bit but you stay true to your basic sound, that's what you are saying.

Yeah

So how about a tour? Once you release the new album publically do you have plans for a specific tour or are you still working on that?

I'm still working on a tour. Unfortunately we weren't able to get it done as fast as we wanted to but definitely we should be on tour before the year is out.

Nice, now when you tour do you do overseas tours or do you keep it to a specific area or how do you work that?

So far we have kept it kind of East coast, we need to go to the west coast before the year is out. We would like to go overseas but it hasn't worked out yet. We are hoping that next year we will be able to do that.

Nice, that would really be cool. Metal Temple you know is International we have writers in countries all over the world, Asia, Europe, we just got a new writer in from South Africa, so that's pretty cool we are constantly expanding so we could definitely help you spread your name overseas. Which is awesome, I like doing that especially for bands like you who are from my area, I think promoting the local music scene is definitely a key for the future, you know what I'm saying?

Yeah

So I know you handle a lot of the booking and do a lot of that stuff yourself, correct?

Yes, uh huh

It is always cool to see the artist doing that themselves but that has to be a lot of work, so how does that affect your personal life, your every day , your marriage, your family

That's a very good question, my husband gets a little upset whenever I do extra stuff like this thing with Sweeney Todd, I really wanted to do it because I thought it was a great opportunity, I haven't been on stage in a play for a long time. When I was in High School, I went to a performing arts High School I trained in Theater for four years like really really extensively, and then I used to perform with the Washington Opera so I was doing a lot of stage stuff and then when I went to college it all sort of ended, so I really wanted to do this and so basically I kind of just had to make it work. July and August are going to be super busy because I will still be recording stuff in the studio, I can't say what it is but there will be recording in the studio I will be going to Sweeney Todd rehearsals and all of August I will be performing Sweeney Todd. So it is just very very busy and I work a full time job too. Yeah so I am very busy and I get to see my husband maybe one day in the weekend and the nights at home.

Yeah it is a lot of work you must be pretty good at multi-tasking then.

Yeah

So do you have anything to say to the world about the new album? Just general to the fans?

I think that what I would like to say is that I think that everybody who knows our work will enjoy it and even anybody that hasn't heard our work will, we've got a little something for everybody. We try to do that with every album, we try to do lots of different things, we don't stick to one genre you know, we do like to play whatever pops into our heads. So there will be something for you if you listen to our music you will find something that you enjoy so I hope that everybody gives it a chance.

Right on, right on. So when you are out and you are touring around and you are playing on stage, like how does it feel when you get an amazing crowd reaction to your songs, I mean it has got to be a great feeling.

Oh it has to be the greatest joy in the world. I mean when we wrote Kill that Bitch so long ago, I remember thinking you know what would be really awesome would be if someday people would sing along with the part where I'm saying kill her kill her, and so we wrote that song four years ago and finally made it to the point where people are singing along and that is like the greatest feeling ever.

Right, I know. I play the drums myself and I have only ever had the opportunity with a band to play out at shows like a couple times but when you are sitting up there especially the first couple of times you do it you are getting all nervous and people are out there and then they turn around and they love it and they are clapping, it is an amazing feeling. Now of all the cities and State that you have played in which one do you think has been the best, I mean the most intense as far as that crowd just enthusiasm just pumping and raging on?

I would say, it sounds kind of strange but we will always remember this gig we played in West Virginia. It was one of the first gigs we ever played with Jessie, and it was at the bottom of a ravine, and was like a bomb shelter. Now I will always remember that place because we weren't a huge band or anything but we came to play and it was so much fun and everybody there really enjoyed it and people came out, just locals came out from the neighborhood and local bands played with us and they were so into it, I never, before that point I had never been with an audience that was so into it that we got into it was just so amazing. Whenever we have something like that, when we played in DC at a place called The Tinge and we had a crowd like that it just makes all the difference in the world when you have a crowd that is so into it that you can just reach out and just touch them and they go crazy. It is amazing.

Hell Yeah, definitely, who are you main influences as far as singers go, I mean you have a wonderful voice and it fits perfectly with the music that you do and everyone I know that I have taken to a show or let hear you guys say the same thing. So who were your main influences?

Thank you, well to be perfectly honest, I have been singing my whole life, and growing up my influences were like, I grew up in the 90's so I heard a lot of Whitney Houston, besides her I really like a lot of old music, so I was into Aretha Franklin, just because of where I come from a lot of the music around me was R&B and Gospel, and I used to sing at my church, so I learned to sing by singing Gospel, and then after that you know I did the whole classical singing, and I did Opera, and things like that. But it has just been a big combination of all of those things. My parents wouldn't really let me listen to grown up music or the radio so I really didn't listen to a lot of metal at all. The only metal album I owned was Wayne's World soundtrack. So besides those great songs I really didn't have very much exposure to heavy metal. So everything I learned, I learned from singers like Aretha Franklin and that's pretty much where I learned to sing.

That's awesome. Now this is a personal question, the goggles that you always wear, where did you get those? Do you have them custom made for you? Or do you find cool ones on the internet? I love the goggles they are just awesome.

Oh thank you, I get them custom made now, my first pair of goggles that I ever got was when I was eighteen years old and I was at a convention and people were selling goggles at this anime convention. I used to work at anime conventions I used to cosplay a lot. And this guy was selling goggles, but they were more like raver goggles, but I thought they were super cool so I bought them, and I literally wore them every single day when I was in college. That was like my go to accessory, every day I would put on my goggles like a headband, and so I wore them all through college and when I was in my first band Blood Core, I decided to keep it up and found these cool metal goggles that had spikes in them and I just kept that ever since. I really love how they look, it's just my thing, I love having them so every album I try to buy a new pair of goggles to sort of coincide with the different albums.

That's cool. Well hey, that's all I got for you today

Okey Dokey

Thanks for talking to me and thanks for putting up with me cutting you off back there, I'm sorry about that.

Oh that's ok

And I hope you and the rest of everybody have a great afternoon, a great weekend and I will see you guys soon.

Awesome, we will see you soon too.

Take it easy

You too, bye bye.

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